Eye Contact
by ScarlettDecember
Summary: When their eyes meet in a bar in the 21st century they know they need to talk. Mergana.


Eye Contact

In the smoky lighting of the bar a young man sits at the counter and waits for his drink. He doesn't usually drink only tonight is a special occasion. Tonight marks the anniversary of the death of his best friend. His best friend who died centuries ago. Not that anyone else needs to know that though. All anyone else can see is a young raven haired man waiting patiently for a drink. He is dressed in jeans, vans and a light grey T-Shirt. His eyes though are what draws the most attention. Blue and intense. It's like looking into the depths of the night sky. Bright and dark at the same time and full of endless possibilities. Just as his drink is served he looks up to thank the person. What he sees makes him freeze, if only for a second. Soon he is back to normal. The eyes that meet his are green, a stormy green like the sea, cold and unforgiving yet he knows those eyes can also hold warmth and kindness. Just as changeable as the sea. He stares as the woman gives him is drink and turns around to serve the next man beside him. The young man watches intently as she laughs with the man next to him. He knows she can feel him staring but he doesn't care. After all these years he wonders if she remembers. If she knows that he killed her. As she flicks her ponytail over her shoulder she walks past him on her way to the back kitchen. She drops a note next to him as she walks by, a light sway of her hips in time with the music. Soon she has disappeared into the hazy room full of people who have no idea that they are I the presence of not one but two sorcerers. Naïve and clueless they party on as if nothing had ever happened. To them really nothing had happened. It was just a normal night at the club partying with friends.

The young man reaches for the note.

 _Merlin,_

 _Meet me tomorrow morning at the Camelot Cafe opposite St David's Park at 8. We need to talk._

 _Morgan Le Fay._

Later that night as he stands to leave they make eye contact again. Blue meets green, a battle of wills to see who will look away first takes place until the green eyes cloud over and the woman addresses the customer in front of her taking his order. She waves a hand in the young man's general direction without looking but by then he has already left the club.

The next morning when Morgana wakes up she shivers. Her alarm clock reads 06:02 at her in flashing red letters. She groans and rolls out of her warm bed. It's a cold morning and as she goes to step into the warm jest of shower water goose bumps form all over her arms. After getting dry she pulls on her favourite pair of black jeans and black and white converse. Over a white tank top she pulls on her most comfortable grey hoodie before fastening her watch on her wrist. Her makeup is simple and barely existent, just a touch or eyeliner here and some mascara there. Her face hasn't changed at all though centuries have passed, she has retained all of her original beauty from the days when she was simply the Kings kind and loving ward. She grabs her keys and steps out of her flat into the cold morning sunshine. Shutting the door behind her she starts walking towards Camelot Café. Her hair tied up in a eat ponytail to keep it off her face she plugs her headphones into her phone as she turns on some music before shoving the device in the back pocket of her jeans. Checking her watch she has half an hour to get there on time. She'll easily make it.

When Merlin wakes up that morning it's a quarter to six. He yawns and stumbles out of bed. He stubs his toe on a box and curses, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes he makes a mental note to clean his room. He recently moved into his new flat and still had boxes of his stuff everywhere. Stumbling towards to bathroom he goes to take a shower. During the shower his mind runs wild. How much does Morgana remember? Is she still that crazy witch hell bent on revenge? Has she been alive all these years? If so how come he hasn't seen her? There are a few immortal people on Earth and you tend to bump into them a few times throughout the seemingly endless centuries. Heck, Merlin had run into Jack yesterday on his way to get a coffee. Jack Harkness. Nice bloke even if he was trying to make out with anything and everything that moved. His thoughts turned back to Morgana. Sighing he turned off the tap and started to dress for the day.

When Merlin had arrived at the café he spotted Morgana sitting with her back to him reading a book. He slid into the seat opposite her as she put her book down, he glanced at the cover "In cold blood" it read. Interesting choice. Not sure if that was a warning or a threat Merlin gulped and sat down. The pair looked at each other as if assessing an opponent before a battle. Morgana was the first to speak "Amusing name for a café is it not? I wonder why they chose to name it after Camelot"

"Merlin didn't reply he just shrugged his shoulders and picked up the menu. He only looked up when he was slapped in the face, the two were seated in a booth so no one had seen the slap. He looked up to meet Morgana's eyes.

"You killed me."

That one line almost broke Merlin's heart. Almost.

"You were trying to kill me! You killed Arthur and wanted to take over Camelot. Because of you Arthur died and never got to fulfil is reign as the once and future king. He was going to be mighty! He would have made a better King that you could have even dreamed of being. In the end you became as bad as Uther. Killing anyone who dared get in your way or even annoy you, you abused magic and used it to swat people down like flies, you were evil and I had to stop you. Don't think I wanted to kill you because I didn't, even though you were all evil and hated me I still lov-"

Merlin stopped his rant and slapped a hand over his mouth. His eyes wide like a startled rabbit or a deer caught in the headlights of an oncoming car.

He looked up when Morgana sniggered. Bad mistake. SLAP!

Again Morgana slapped Merlin only this time on the other side of his face.

What was that for!

"Merlin, you didn't tell me you had magic. You could have helped me. Bloody hell you could have stopped me or at least have kept me company throughout the sleepless nights when I was to bloody scared to sleep should I blow anything else up or set anything on fire! It would have been nice to know I wasn't alone! I trusted you yet all I got in return was lies and more lies before being stabbed in the gut with a sword! Do you know how painful that was?! And now I find out that maybe someone out there in the cold heartless world loved me? It just makes it that much worse knowing you didn't trust me to keep your secret."

Merlin looked down at his lap, apparently Morgana hadn't lost any of her fire. But she as taking it awfully well seeing as he may have just admitted to loving her. Again his gaze move dot meet those green eyes belonging the Lady of Camelot. This time though the eyes showed kindness and concern? Morgana was smiling at him and whispered a few words. "Ge Hailige" Her eyes flashed briefly gold and the pain from Merlin's slaps faded. He put a hand to his cheek and touched it, the skin just as it had been when he left his house this morning. He looks at her puzzled, she smiles again. It's not a mocking smirk it's a genuine smile of kindness. The type that used to adorn her face when she was still Uther's loved and cherished ward, the Lady of Camelot who's beauty was spoken of throughout the five kingdoms. She smiled again and whispered three words, "I've missed you". That's when a young waiter came up to them and inquired as to whether or not they were ready to order.

As Merlin tucked into to his "Arthurs appetite" (it was supposedly supposed to mimic the breakfast great King Arthur of Camelot had eaten) he talked to Morgana about nothing and everything, neither of them wanting to destroy their new found peace with each other so they both steered clear of the topic of Morgana's death and evil stint. Morgana was picking away at her "Lady's Breakfast" Her plat was meant to represent what the Lady of Camelot would have eaten each morning. The people who ran the café hadn't exactly got it spot on, I mean the lady of Camelot probably wouldn't have had pancakes, for a fact Morgana knew that the Lady of Camelot hadn't eaten pancakes for breakfast but meh, the pancakes did taste pretty good so she wasn't complaining.

They discussed the upcoming Olympic Games in Rio and Hogwarts. They talked about magic and how really it hadn't changes. Just become more hidden but it was still there flowing through the world in the schools like Hogwarts, it was being channelled through pieces of wood now though which both Sorcerers found to be quite amusing and remembering when Arthur had been prepared to run away with a girl to be married only to be knocked out by Merlin so the Prince of Camelot didn't become a sacrifice. The more they talked the more the two raven haired people remembered, both had been so lonely. Relationships couldn't last because they never aged or got older. They had to move around a fair bit in case anyone noticed that they hadn't changed. There were a few other immortal people on Earth and they all met up every so often but apart from that they didn't really have any friends. Money was never really an issue so they both lived fairly comfortably.

Finally the subject they had both been dreading came up. Themselves.

"okay, let's do this as 20 questions. No lies and you have to answer. Deal?"

"Deal"

Morgana's idea of 20 questions worked quite well as it made everything just a little less awkward.

"So, Merlin. How many people from Camelot knew you had magic?"

"Gaius, and one or two of the knights who saw me using it to save the pratt, apart from that no one"

"Alright Morgana, how are you still alive? I mean I stabbed you in the gut with an enchanted sword…''

"I didn't go to the clearing that day, it was just an image but you were to occupied to thoroughly notice. A dream I had alerted me to the fact that you were going to stab me and I was too busy to go and kill you just then so I sent an image of me rather than the real thing. It, in all intents and purposes was me excepts to was a clone me. You killed a clone not me that day."

"My turn, why are you immortal?"

"I have no freaking clue. Something to do with a rift in time and space and a blonde girl in a blue box, the same as Jack I think. Jack Harkness leader of Torchwood three. The Card-"

"Yep I know who he is. Who doesn't. "Morgana scoffed, she had met Jack a total of 7 times and he had flirted with her every single time without fail.

"Okay then, why, Morgana Pendragon are you back to your old self again. Not that it's a bad thing, I'm actually quite enjoying it but what made you change?"

"As we said before there is still magic in all different forms alive today. I am immortal because Athuisa healed me a little too well. Anyway, once the battle was over I moved around a lot and came to terms with what I had done. Before the Last Battle there had been moments when I just wanted to back out but I believed my sister and I were doing the right thing and I told myself to just keep going so I did. After that last battle it was like the life almost drained out of me. I still hated you for a good couple of decades but then I started to take notice of the happy families and friends around me, that's when I started to regret what I had done, that's when I started to change. I started to miss everyone and I started to see how what I had done had killed everyone I cared about. I tried to ignore you for another 12 decades or so but I did still care for you. Every so often I heard word of you, a mighty legend always helping people or maybe it was a cloaked hermit living in a cave occasionally lending a hand when the crops failed. I could never find it inn me to confront you though. I was too scared of being rejected and being left friendless in the cruel harsh world. I think I believed that one day I would talk to you and seek your forgiveness and I guess that day is today…so… Merlin, will you please forgive me? I understand if you don't and I will walk out of here and never talk to you if that's what you want but please, forgive me? I don't deserve your forgiveness but please."

When Morgana had finished speaking her eyes had started to water though she wouldn't cry. She was a strong woman who had lived on her own for the past thousand years and a bit or so. Merlin held her hand across the table and looked her dead in the eye. "Of course I forgive you Morgana. Do you forgive me?"

"I don't know you would need to seek forgiveness for anything but yes I do, thankyou Merlin."

After another five hours or so and numerous cups of coffee the pair left the café together. All those secrets that had been kept for years and years had finally spilt and all that hate had gone, carried away on the soft winter's breeze. Together Merlin and Morgana could start anew.


End file.
